Between Netflix and Hulu and Amazon, you may think you have enough streaming options in your life. But you don’t, especially if you’re a horror fan. If you’re in the market for a scary movie, you aren’t going to find much to get excited about amongst most of the major players. The handful of gems tend to be wedged between whatever schlock your streaming service of choice could buy on the cheap.

That’s why I was so intrigued by Shudder, a horror-centric streaming service that supplies all of the great horror options that are so painfully absent elsewhere. Browse through Shudder’s library and you’ll find untouchable classics and cult favorites, mainstream movies and eclectic curiosities from every corner of the globe. And it only costs five bucks a month, which makes me feel like I’m getting away with murder by subscribing.

Because I genuinely love Shudder and because you can sign up for a free trial before you commit to actually paying a dime, I combed through their archives and tried to find ten movies I could recommend to subscribers and curious newbies alike. I ended up narrowing it down to twenty titles and couldn’t bear to cut another one because I have zero discipline. So I decided to program ten double features, linked by filmmakers, themes, styles, and occasionally utter nonsense, that you can enjoy via Shudder.

So don’t let the lack of great horror options on Netflix bring you down. There is another way.

The SXSW Midnight entry Citadel is an Irish film that trades on very familiar horror/thriller subject matter: basic fear of generational aggression. There are plenty of films about roving gangs of kids/teens committing crimes and doing violence, and the basic fear even crosses over into real life media through reports of hoodie gangs and ‘wilding’ kids that show up every once in a while in major cities.

Citadel is a bit more personal, however, with vague shades of David Cronenberg’s The Brood. The film is about a man whose wife was killed in an attack by a pack of feral children. Now the same pack wants the man and his child, and he has to face his fear in a massive abandoned housing block.

The film is actually based on director Ciarán Foy‘s experience being attacked, and his fears that resulted from the event. Check out the trailer below. Read More »

Be it Sundance, Toronto or South by Southwest, some of the most exciting films to play in any film festival these days are part of the midnight line up. That’s where festivals feel comfortable playing the over the top genre stuff and, last year, SXSW’s midnight schedule included films like Attack the Block, Insidious and Kill List. Now the 2012 schedule has been announced.

The main schedule is already cool enough, featuring the world premieres of fantastic films like The Cabin in the Woods and 21 Jump Street, but at midnight, they’re adding to that with the world premieres of [REC] 3: Genesis, Girls Against Boys and The Tall Man with Jessica Biel. They’ll also screen the awesome anthology V/H/S, John Dies at the End and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Intruders with Clive Owen, just to name a few.

Drew Goddard‘s long delayed deconstructive horror film, The Cabin in the Woods, is so good it deserves a massive coming out party. That’s exactly what it’s going to get this March.

The Cabin in the Woods was just announced as the opening night film of the 2012 South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival which will take place in Austin, Texas from March 9-17. Co-writer and producer Joss Whedon will be on hand for a conversation panel the day after the upcoming HBO TV show Girls, produced by Judd Apatow and starring Lena Dunham, will also debut, screening several episodes along with Q&As featuring much of the creative team. Read more about the film, the show and the festival itself after the jump. Read More »